Developmental changes in narrative productivity and complexity: A T‑unit analysis of storytelling in typically developing Kannada‑speaking children.

Abstract

Background: Narrative discourse is a sensitive index of school‑age language development and is closely linked to literacy, academic achievement, and social–pragmatic competence in children. However, quantitative studies of oral storytelling in non‑English, Indian languages remain limited, particularly those that track microstructural development across narrow age bands in typically developing (TD) children.
Aims: This study aimed to investigate age‑related changes in narrative productivity and syntactic complexity in TD Kannada‑speaking children aged 5–10 years, using T‑unit–based measures. Specific objectives were to (a) examine developmental trends in number of clauses, number of T‑units, words per clause, and words per T‑unit across five one‑year age groups, and (b) explore the influence of age and gender on these measures.
Methods: The study included 150 neurotypical Kannada-speaking children (5–10 years old), divided into five age groups, recruited from schools and community settings in Mysuru, India. Children met strict inclusion criteria based on caregiver report, standardised language screening and language background. Narrative discourse was elicited through self‑generated storytelling which was further video‑recorded, transcribed verbatim, and segmented into T‑units. Data were analysed using a three‑way mixed ANOVA with age group and gender as between‑subjects factors and narration as the discourse task, followed by Tukey’s HSD post‑hoc tests.
Results: T‑unit measures showed gradual increases from 5 to 10 years, with older children producing more clauses and T‑units and demonstrating longer, more elaborated clauses and T‑units than younger peers. Boys and girls displayed broadly similar performance trends. The omnibus ANOVA revealed significant main effects of age group for all T‑unit indices, whereas gender effects were non‑significant and interactions were minimal. Post‑hoc comparisons indicated overlapping age subsets, suggesting continuous rather than stage‑like developmental change.
Conclusions: The findings provide preliminary age-referenced T-unit norms for Kannada-speaking school-age children between 5 and 10 years. These data offer a useful quantitative reference for narrative assessment in Kannada and lay the groundwork for future comparisons with children who have language or learning difficulties.